Symptoms and Signs of Babies and Infants Who Are Teething

The signs an symptoms of teething are many and varied because, as anyone who has experienced ongoing toothache can tell you, pain in the mouth can affect every part of your body.

How do you know when your child is teething? First, he or she is somewhere between three months and a year old and doesn't yet have teeth, right? Some signs of teething are obvious; drooling, wakefulness, crankiness, crying, biting, chewing and tender gums are a few. Other signs of cutting teeth may be a little less obvious: she refuses food or may not be drinking milk; she may have a rash around the mouth; saliva irritates the delicate skin. There may be a runny nose, the mechanics of which escape me, but if you've ever eaten a hot chili, you know that your mouth floods with saliva, your eyes tear up and your nose starts to run.

What Do Teething Infant Gums Look Like?

Teething gums look pretty much like you'd expect them to: they may be swollen and red or even bruised. There may be little white dots on them, or you may see small openings where in a day or two will be a tooth.
Because the baby is drooling and swallowing more drool than you ever thought possible, you may notice loose stools in the diaper. Loose bowel movements may be a part of teething, but if there's anything more than an extra-poopy diaper, if there is fever, mucous or blood in the stools, or if the diarrhea is violent, you should take your baby to the doctor for help because the diarrhea probably isn't related to teething. And if your child is experiencing even the mild diarrhea associated with teething, there may be diaper rash, too. And you thought this couldn't be more fun!

Is My Baby Cutting New Teeth or Is Something Wrong?

Fever is always a sign of infection, which is why the first thing moms do when you don't feel good is feel your forehead. Gum inflammation may cause a low fever, but if your baby runs a temperature, check with your pediatrician. Sleeplessness, crying and fussing are all perfectly normal behaviors for a teething child: fever is not. And for children who turn out to be prone to ear infections, it can be difficult for parents and professionals to recognize that what may look like ordinary cranky teething symptoms may be something more serious. Fever is one indicator that something's wrong. A teething baby who's teething will get crankier at night but be more cheerful in the day, when there are more distractions around; a child with an ear infection won't find relief in the daytime because the pain isn't something he can get distracted from.

Parenting first starts with getting used to the sight of blood, but you may be terrified when your teething child starts bleeding from the mouth. Before you jump to any conclusions (assuming your child is conscious and acting normally), wipe away the blood and look at her gums. Sometimes, as a tooth is breaking through the gums, small cysts can form which, when the pressure increases, break open. Normally, once the first blood is let, the bleeding stops and soon you see a little white tooth where the cyst once was.